QueenoftheSouth

I think that makes them the favorite, at least on paper. Success will depend on chemistry and players buying into their roles, and then staying out of foul trouble. Lack of depth is still a major issue for them.

I believe one was out the whole summer and the other missed multiple days as well. Only mentioned that in reference to your comment indicating lack of size would hurt Boyle. If they’re used as one would expect, that won’t be the case and shouldn’t be a an area of deficit for Boyle.

I agree with your overall opinion that talent is down across the region. I also agree with you on Lincoln not being in the mix this year. But if Bishop decides to play, is healthy and plays like he’s capable of, he has the potential to be a top 10 player. But that’s a lot of if’s. If Boyle plays with discipline, on paper they should have as good of a chance to win region as anyone. To your comment about size, they have two freshmen that are 6’5”/6’6”. DCA and Wayne have size, but that alone shouldn’t be a disadvantage for Boyle. I too think Rock is a year away but think they have enough talent to beat anyone. I do like their size across multiple positions and they have Craig who should emerge as a star this year. SW, West, Danville and Mcreary are out of the mix. DCA has as good of a chance as anyone. I was a fan of theirs last year but they didn’t live up to expectations. Like Boyle, their key to success lies in being patient, getting better looks and taking care of the ball. They have a rim protector, a slasher, an experienced PG and a shooter. Then the Fugate kid from Garrard would be a shooter that can handle it pretty well also. I think it takes him getting eligible for them to be in the mix. If he is and they gel, look out. Again, a lot of if’s. If Dumpfort makes a difference inside like some have said, it makes Wayne a different team. If he’s a legit 15 PPG guy, for sure. But I think they’ll be different from others in the hunt in that like last year they’ll play a more methodical style than the other teams mentioned. I think they’ll be tough to beat in a half court game as they have a great scorer and two bigs to contend with. But I would expect teams to press them to speed them up, and I think ball handling could be their weakness. You didn't mention Mercer but I think they’re certainly in the mix with Barnes and Ellis. They have as much size as anyone and I believe more depth than others. Their question mark will be taking care of the ball against pressure. Finding that PG. You also didn’t mention Somerset and they have a really nice backcourt. I think they were the most improved over the course of last season. I look for them to be in the mix as well, def top 5. Wayne, DCA, Boyle, Mercer, Somerset - in no certain order. Any one those have the talent to get it done. And Rock is just outside that group IMO.

I went back and looked up Dumphord’s stats from when he last played two years ago. He averaged 8.2 points and 8.8 rebounds. 49% FG & 52% FT. Didn’t take any threes. Is that in line with what you’d expect from him this year? Is he more of a skilled kid or a physical banger type? Just trying to figure out how much his presence is going to impact Wayne and the balance of power in the region.

Totally agree. And in my comments about Mercer, I failed to mention Barnes. All of that is assuming he’s eligible and that would give them what I think are two top 5-7 players in Ellis and Barnes.

On paper, DCA and Boyle look strong, but they both looked strong last year and neither performed at a level I expected before the season. They both lacked discipline and chemistry. Whether it will be different this year remains to be seen. DCA’s addition of Fugate is a big deal for them, and I believe their newest foreign player addition will be eligible around district tournament time. I’ve heard he may be their best player once eligible. They have serious depth issues, more so than any other top 5 team. On the other hand, Somerset was my biggest overachiever last year. They greatly improved over the course of the year. That was a great job by Coach Young developing his team. I’d put Wayne right behind them in that I didn’t expect much of anything from them. Hats off to Coach Woods on making adjustments to play a style that suited his roster and gave them the best chance to win. I don’t recall previous Wayne teams playing such a methodical, disciplined style. Also, I’m not familiar with the Dumpford kid so cannot comment on his impact (if he plays). I think Mercer is the most intriguing team. They have lots of size and are very deep. They have a top 5 player in Ellis. I think they now have one of the top coaches in the region. If they can figure out the PG position they can be as good as any team in the region. I also think Rockcastle isn’t quite at the level of those 5 teams but is a notch above the rest. They have size across the board and some good pieces.

That sounds more like a description of a tired team. Repeat of the LCA game in that Boyle was dominant the second half. Crazy potential but of course they have to come to play against the likes of Corbin and a few others.

People forget that it wasn’t always that way at Boyle. They went from being an average school, both academically and in football, into consistently being top 10 in the state in both. Everyone is familiar with what they’ve done in football, but per their school website, they’ve been a top 10 school district in the state the last 7 years. They’ve had success in other sports as well, but they are elite academically and in football. it should come as no surprise when kids/families that live in adjoining counties desire to enroll at Boyle. And all the kids referenced above are from either Boyle or a neighboring county. It only makes sense that it’s going to happen. Success breeds success.

How will this go over in that community? Are they going to be happy about suddenly being relevant or are people going to be upset that the team is made up of new faces?

Corbin is elite this year. I think they win this one by a good margin.

I think Boyle wins in a competitive game. Their defense is better and they have more options on offense, though the options LCA have are very, very good. This should be one of the more exciting high school games we see all year. Lots of high level talent including some that could be on the same team at the next level.

It’s not often that we get to see a kid in our area that is this good. He really is a special, elite level talent. And he seems to be an unusually humble kid. Don’t see that very often either.

I think it’s unfair when people do that to kids before they even hit high school. Calling him a Power 6 future player puts a lot of pressure on a kid. In reality it’s hard to predict at this age. I too like his upside but it’s way too early for that kind of conversation.

Who was the first player?

With the exception of Ethan Cooper moving back to Garrard, they just don’t get the benefit of kids moving there for sports. Lincoln doesn’t get enough “credit” for the number of basketball transfers they’ve gotten over the years. And the players that have benefitted DCA over the past two years have come from other countries. I don’t consider that in any way similar to what Boyle or Lincoln gets.

Not sure if anyone has mentioned this already, but it reminds me a lot of the Harrodsburg/Mercer situation from years ago. Not so much that Mercer was a football/sports powerhouse like Boyle is now, but Harrodsburg gradually lost their status in both sports and academics. That led to kids peeling off and going to Mercer, hurting Harrodsburg financially. And we all saw how that one ended.

At the end of the day, kids (like adults) want to be a part of something great. Maybe it’s about recruiting opportunities for some, about winning for others. Either way, Boyle football is great, and that’s not even in question at this point. As far as recruiting, I don’t think high school sports matter that much, other than perhaps local (KY) D3 and NAIA schools. It’s about camps in football, travel teams in basketball and baseball, etc. There are some kids that play/played for Boyle over the past couple years that I’ve been surprised didn’t get offers. So it didn’t turn out too well for them in spite of having played at Boyle. And then there are kids getting high level D1 offers and they couldn’t be happier. But the Boyle staff does an excellent job of hyping kids on social media, and most kids want that.

Faulkner is the best player that I’ve seen play in the 12th, and that’s in over 20 years worth of paying attention. So yeah, a huge factor. But there were years on both ends of that run where he either maybe wasn’t the best player on the team/wasn’t dominant (first year he played varsity) or had already graduated. Plus, all of those Mercer teams had multiple good players relative to the talent in the 12th at the time. Point being that, during that span, they would’ve still been “relevant” (somewhere in the top 5 depending on the year) without Faulkner. My original point is they were relevant for five straight years then were largely irrelevant the last four. They had the talent to be relevant this past year, at least in my opinion. And when you consider the team talent levels across the region, they have the talent to be relevant/top 5 again over the next few years.

First, relevant vs powerhouse are two very different things. The three schools you mentioned would definitely be at the top over the years. But to me, if a team is top 5 in their region, they’re relevant. I did some research to make sure I wasn’t off base. Here’s a 14 year look back at Mercer (09-10 thru 22-23): 09-10 3rd in region 10-11 4th in region/won district/made it to regional championship Next 3 seasons irrelevant 14-15 4th in region/won district 15-16 1st in region/won district/won region 16-17 2nd in region/won district/made it to regional championship 17-18 1st in region/won district/made it to regional championship 18-19 2nd in region Over the last 4 seasons, the best they finished was 10th/16 and were 14th twice and 11th once. Never won the district and had a combined 52-53 record. And that record is a probably better than it should have been as they started playing teams such as Wellspring Guardians, Heart for Christ, Central KY Homeschool, Whitefiled Academy, etc. Overall, they’ve been pretty relevant. It seems they’re either relevant or not good at all. Over the last 9 years, they had 5 very good teams (in a row) that won the district 4 times; finished 4th, 1st, 2nd, 1st, & 2nd in the region (RPI); won the region once; and made it to the regional championship 3 times. Heck, that might be more along the lines of powerhouse performance over that stint. Then the last 4 years have been awful. So when I say return to relevancy, that’s the basis.

I’ll have to disagree with you on the relevancy comment. They haven’t really been since Baughman’s last year. They generally make the region as the runner up in their district, but that is because of how weak that district is (outside of West).

A very impressive resume. I expect that he will make Mercer relevant again. With what they have returning, I think they will start the season ranked top 5 in the region.

Not a name that was mentioned early on but sounds like a high level hire nonetheless. And I’m guessing he would be early 50’s based on his experience, so he’s got some years left for sure. If you look at what Mercer has coming back for the next 3 years, I expect them to (very) relevant again. And with a guy like that, maybe Mercer gets a kid or two along the way. I think the 12th just got tougher.

What do you think would be wrong with it? I saw a clip last week where he also had kids from other schools, at least Boyle and Owen County. So it’s not even limited to Mercer kids. Anyone can do skill training and anyone can attend. Lots of coaches do that to make extra money.

Cook would be a no brainer for most any school in the state. I don’t see how anyone can argue that point. As far as Austin Sparrow, I agree that coaching in your hometown can present some challenges. But, like most things in life, the challenging things can also be the most rewarding. So much of coaching has to do with passion for the sport, player development and establishing good relationships with your players. I think Sparrow would be strong in those areas.

Steve Adams is a heckuva coach. He’s frequently gotten more out of less, and that’s a fact. And he had a final four year when he had final four talent. And Josh Cook, regardless of talent, is a heckuva coach. He may most always have talented teams, but they never underachieve. That’s the measure of the quality of a coach, regardless of talent. Does the coach live up to, or even exceed, expectations?